Shinya Aoki (Paraestra Tokyo) spoke to reporters following the December 5th announcement at the Dream Stage Entertainment Tokyo office that he would face Joachim Hansen at PRIDE SHOCKWAVE 2006 on December 31st at Saitama Super Arena.

It's been only four months since Shinya Aoki's amazing PRIDE debut, during which he became one of PRIDE's fastest rising starts and earned himself a ticket to the Net Year's Eve event, SHOCKWAVE.

"New Year's Eve martial arts events have always been something that I watched on TV. I never expected to actually be in one. So, I am grateful and very proud of this opportunity to fight in SHOCKWAVE."

Asked about his comments regarding groin strikes in the press conference, Aoki explained, "The president of my sponsor, Kobubudo, is taking care of me. He made a carbon foul cup for me. I've always used a plastic foul cup in kickboxing but maybe I'll be fine with a carbon cup, even if I take a direct hit. There was a lot of swelling after I was hit in the groin in my October fight. It was swollen so much that I really wanted to show everybody! (laughing)"

"Everyone in PRIDE is strong. There are no weak fighters here so I don't feel anything special because I'm fighting Hansen. I kind of felt that I would be fighting on New Year's Eve so I had already been getting in shape. I will train hard up until one week prior to the event and give a fight that both the fans and I can be satisfied with."

"Hansen has the image of being a pounder but I'm good at keeping position and punching, too. I'll tie him up with submissions from the bottom and punch him. Then I'm going to make Hansen feel good," Aoki commented after describing his match as one between pounding and submissions at the earlier press conference.

"I made some long-spats for New Year's Eve so I think I'll be able to show everyone something to make them happy," Aoki said with a smile.